“The problem is that when people who are not Welsh come in or when we are faced with pronouncing a word in any language, we fall back on what we would say in our native language. It is very, very important that the police make certain that their staff pronounce correctly.

“I remember hearing a radio announcer mispronouncing a place in Carmarthenshire and I thought a farm of one of my relatives was on fire. It turned out to be completely wrong – so it can be dangerous.”

Leanne Wood, AM for South Wales Central who was born in RCT, said: “I welcome the fact that the force has rectified this bizarre mispronunciation on their corporate communications hotline.

“As part of their Welsh language scheme, the force says they will treat the English and Welsh languages on a basis of equality.

“They should now honour this pledge by introducing a bilingual message on their communications hotline to demonstrate their commitment to the Welsh language and the people who speak it.”

A South Wales police spokeswoman said that they had not received any complaints about the incorrect pronunciation, and the new message had been planned anyway.

She said: “A lot of messages have just been re-recorded across the force.

“They noticed there was a mistake with the pronunciation, but it was corrected by the new recording.”

The error came as police announced the date for their annual Welsh language awards, which recognises native speakers for using Welsh to “make every contact count”.